Netanyahu urges Lebanese to back Israel as strikes kill 12 in south

Lebanon’s health ministry confirmed that Israeli airstrikes in the south killed 12 people on Wednesday, including nine in Tayr Debba and three in Sidon. The strikes occurred as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a direct appeal to Lebanese citizens, urging them to join Israel’s campaign against Hezbollah. In a video statement, Netanyahu asserted that Israel is not at war with the Lebanese people but is fighting a group that has “taken your country hostage,” promising that peace and prosperity would follow the group’s dismantling.

The violence underscores the fragility of diplomatic efforts, as fighting continues despite an April ceasefire and a conditional truce announced last week following talks in Washington. Hezbollah has rejected the deal, which stipulated a complete cessation of its fire but did not include a halt to Israeli strikes. The group’s fighters have maintained attacks on Israeli troops, including rocket and drone fire, while hundreds of supporters rallied in Beirut’s southern suburbs in solidarity with Iran and its allies.

Casualty figures for Wednesday’s attacks varied slightly between sources. While the health ministry reported nine deaths in Tayr Debba and three in Sidon, a medical source told AFP that four people were killed in Deir Qanun al-Nahr, a figure not initially included in the official statement. An Israeli drone strike also hit a vehicle in Sidon, a coastal city previously spared major attacks and home to many displaced people, resulting in two fatalities.

Tensions were further heightened by the detention of two municipal employees from the border town of Kfarshuba. The Israeli military stated it had “apprehended” two suspected individuals who approached soldiers in southern Lebanon for questioning. The Kfarshuba municipality identified the men as council member Mohammad al-Hajj and employee Ahmad Diab, who were working to pump water when detained. They were released later that evening, with the municipality condemning the act as a “hostile act towards two innocent men” carrying out humanitarian service.

Since Hezbollah launched rocket fire in support of Iran on March 2, Israeli attacks have killed nearly 3,700 people in Lebanon. On the Israeli side, 29 soldiers and one civilian contractor have been killed. With most roads to southern villages now cut off or dangerous, the association of Christian border villages has urged authorities to open safe humanitarian corridors, warning of the growing isolation of communities that have chosen to remain despite evacuation orders.